attending. Something very unexpected has happened. I mustn't tell
you now, but you will soon know. I have drawn a prize. Now don't
pump me!"

"Here's another prize!" said Jack. "You are to lunch with us to-
morrow, and to discuss my future career. There's glory for you! I
am not to be present, and father is scheming to get me invited to
luncheon here. If he fails, I am to take out some sandwiches and to
eat them in the kitchen garden. Maud is to be present, and
'CONFER,' he says, 'though without a vote'!"

Howard met Mrs. Graves in the drawing-room; she kissed him, and
holding his hand for a moment said, "Thank you for your note, my
dear boy. That's all settled, then! Well, it's a great joy to me,
and I get more than I give by the bargain. It's a shameless bribe,
to secure the company of a charming nephew for a sociable old
woman. Some time I shall want to tell you more about the people
here--but I won't bore you; and let us just get quietly used to it
all. One must not be pompous about money; it is doing it too much
honour; and the best of it is that I have found a son." Howard
smiled, kissed the hand which held his, and said no more.

The Vicar turned up in the afternoon, and apologised to Mrs. Graves
for asking Howard to luncheon on the following day. "The fact is,"
he said, "that I am anxious to have the benefit of his advice about
Jack's future. I think we ought to look at things from all sorts of
angles, and Howard will be able, with his professional knowledge of
young men, to correct the tendency to parental bias which is so
hard to eliminate. I am a fond father--fond, but I hope not
foolish--and I trust we shall be able to arrive at some